Australian officials have for years been pushing their US counterparts to reform their treatment under arms regulations, and the issue was front and centre of the December Australian-US Ministerial consultations between Marles and Austin.

Two of America’s biggest proponents of the AUKUS pact, Democrat Congressman Joe Courtney and Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher, have vowed to reform the export control system. They have even suggested giving Australia a special exemption to accelerate the delivery of it nuclear-powered fleet.

“Congress must find a way to grant Australia a degree of freedom or flexibility from ITAR’s requirements,” Gallagher, who is also the chairman of the Select Committee on China, told The Sydney Morning Herald/The Age.

“There are ways we can exempt our closest allies without compromising national security or hurting American manufacturers. Congressman Courtney and I intend to make sensible ITAR reform a top priority this Congress.”

Meanwhile, Republican Senator James Risch, a ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, urged the Biden Administration to also do more, saying it had “rolled out the AUKUS partnership to great fanfare, but has been slow to conduct the detailed work to ensure effective interagency implementation.”

“Australia is one of the most trusted and reliable allies of the United States. The administration must ensure the State Department takes Australia’s status as such into account as it considers how to adapt our technology sharing laws, regulations, and policies to meet the intent of AUKUS,” he said today.

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Marles will receive both the recommendations of the nuclear-powered submarine taskforce and the final version of a sweeping strategic review of the nation’s defence forces within weeks.

Under plans still being thrashed out, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his UK counterpart Rishi Sunak could travel to Washington in mid-March to unveil the plan with US President Joe Biden.

The announcement is expected to provide the first concrete insights into the cost, timing and procurement of the AUKUS deal, but after months of review and plenty of hype, expectations are high.

Mark Watson, the director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s DC office, said he was hoping to see a clear pathway forward, noting that “you can’t get two Prime Ministers and a President in the room and have a nothing-burger.”

Asked if he was confident the workplace issues could be resolved, he replied: “Not at all.”

“Australia has basically allowed its manufacturing base to be shipped overseas for valid, orthodox, economic reasons,” he said.

“Even in the US right now with its massive industrial base and potential workforce, it can’t get enough people to do the jobs it needs to do to build and maintain and sustain a submarine.